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Modern vs. Traditional - Kitchens

11 years ago
Which do you prefer? Modern kitchens or Traditional kitchens?

VOTE for your choice and tell us about it in the comments!

Comments (108)

  • 11 years ago
    It's hard for me to decide between the two, since I adore both styles. But, I do love that modern kitchen!
  • 11 years ago
    I vote for a kitchen with food and family!!!
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    There are so many great elements in both! What is most important I think is functionality. As a designer and someone that LOVES to cook, I appreciate any kitchen that makes my work easier. dedicated zones, room for prep etc. Trends will come and go, but efficiency will always be appreciated. One of the things Julia Child had in her kitchen was a simple pegboard to hang her pots and pans within easy reach. Probably not that glam, but it was probably great for ease. Here's to making it look beautiful, and work like a champ!
  • 11 years ago
    Traditional, a kitchen is the heart of the home, where memories are made and kept. For me, the contemporary is the cafe at the art museum: yes Beautiful, but a here and now.
  • 11 years ago
    I like modern conveniences, but prefer old timey flair. I am aware that time saving devices exist, but I still make things like dough and whipped cream by hand.
  • 11 years ago
    Traditional for me every time remember its your home you have to feel comfortable in it.
  • 11 years ago
    I like traditional because it never goes completely out of style. We built our "contemprary" house 26 years ago and now our modern kitchen is not so modern and causing a little issue as we are trying to sell the house. Yes, we updated countertops, applicances and flooring but still --- not so modern as "Modern."
  • 11 years ago
    I would call the 1st image transitional and the 2nd contemporary - anyone else agree?
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    I love both styles! Hard to choose!
  • 11 years ago
    Contemporary
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    The top image looks more Transitional than Traditional.
  • 11 years ago
    Modern looks uber slick - love it
  • 11 years ago
    Feeny's Nightmare::[houzz=
    Traditional Kitchen · More Info
    ]
  • 11 years ago
    I like both. My kitchen is transitional.
  • 11 years ago
    Almost, but not quite ornate enough, studio 10001. Now THIS is Feeny's nightmare:
    Southampton Builders- Luxury Custom Home in St. Charles Illinois · More Info
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    That's horrendous, feeny.
  • 11 years ago
    feeny, I think that is where Alfred makes soup for Bruce Wayne.
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    Traditional is my favorite. Fun to create modern for others but in my home Traditional feels best.
  • 11 years ago
    This is a tough one as both are done well. I'm flopping back and forth like a fish :) but I actually prefer the flat panel cabinets with the waterfall edge in the modern kitchen.

    Feeny, that kitchen is NASTY but wouldn't it make for a great before picture, sledgehammer anyone???
  • 11 years ago
    Traditional; it's warmer and more inviting. To me traditional says "people live and eat and talk here" while modern says "people sometimes have to grab something out of the fridge on their way someplace else".
  • 11 years ago
    Both together!
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    Both work no doubt but I am more to the traditional !
  • 11 years ago
    Traditional evokes warmth. It says "come in and share a cup of coffee and a bit of gossip!"
  • 11 years ago
    I like to mix both.
  • 11 years ago
    I love both looks. Personally, I do prefer modern with hints of traditional!
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    The modern is nice but only to visit, the traditional is what I would want to wake up to with the smell of home cooked eggs and homefries with a fresh smoothie on the side.
  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago
    Cheeky fellow!
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    Both kitchens look beautiful. To each, his own!
    They both seem to have great flow, and an open feel. That's my favorite aspect in a cooking workspace.
  • 11 years ago
    For me its modern…no contest. The clean, uncluttered lines are soothing. I find traditional designs too busy – mental overload of patterns, textures, nooks & crannies. Many traditional kitchen designs also tend to be dark and “heavy”. The one here goes too far in the other direction, IMHO. It’s too white, almost clinical, like a hospital kitchen. For me “traditional” is my grandmother’s kitchen. Love grandma, but I want _my_ kitchen.
    Modern (or contemporary actually) can be very warm and inviting if you fill it with warm earth tones, natural materials, and light woods like bamboo. If you consider Japanese design, it’s actually very traditional and timeless, yet has the clean lines of contemporary design. Someone mentioned Scandinavian design, which is also great, though I find it a little cooler and more Spartan than Japanese.
  • 11 years ago
    It is interesting that a traditional kitchen received the highest vote (my vote too) while designers seem to want to move everyone into a modern kitchen. One thing I really dislike about the "new" kitchen styles is the open shelving. Do any of these designers or owners cook? If so they must need to wash dishes almost every time they are used due to the dust and kitchen grease which accumulates. Give me closed kitchen cabinets every time!
  • 11 years ago
    Can I say traditional but modern? Most modern kitchens seem cold and uninviting to me, built for show and designed to impress other people. I want my kitchen to say "This is my home. Be comfortable and feel welcome." I'll take traditional but designed around modern appliances and light sources.
  • 11 years ago
    The traditional white kitchen is the kitchen I've always wanted. It's perfect! And because I don't cook, it would never get dirty; not even that gorgeous testament to impracticality capping island, that marvelous slab of extremely porous Italian marble, just waiting to absorb everything that touches it. Sealed, you say? Bah, I counter! There's no such thing! Coasters all around, please. Yes, for water!! For water is all we shall serve in the perfect kitchen. Breakfast? Bacon? You're not listening... In the perfect kitchen, the stove doesn't work. It's a prop, as are the refrigerator and the microwave and the steamer. They all just sit there looking pretty and clean, like families in 1950s sitcoms. When we're hungry we eat at a restaurant, and that's where we leave our grease and crumbs and dirty dishes. See? Isn't it perfect?

    Oh... I don't particularly like the contemporary kitchen because it's too cold and uninviting. I don't feel like I could relax and enjoy a meal there. M
  • 11 years ago
    Traditional kitchen is always the best!! It always feels like home with your family together
  • 11 years ago
    Either can be really beautiful (as in the examples above), but as I don't want my kitchen to look dated and passé in a few years I'll be sticking with traditional. Replacing appliances and touch ups are much less expensive than a whole kitchen remodel.
  • 11 years ago
    A mix of the two works well. I prefer an organic modern/tradition kitchen.
  • 11 years ago
    U
  • 11 years ago
    White traditional kitchens are so beautiful!! I would love to have one. To my eyes, the details of moldings and the like resemble the beautiful scrollwork of a wedding cake. How wonderful to have a daily reminder of such a special day!
  • 11 years ago
    Modern reminds me too much of my childhood kitchen and mom's trendy MCM design aesthetic. Not unlike Betty Draper's kitchen. While I have warm memories of that kitchen, today's modern kitchens leave me cold.
  • 11 years ago
    Living in a 1938-built Cape Cod, my kitchen was mostly original with carpenter created cupboards. A modern kitchen would certainly have looked out-of-place. Paying honor to the original period was logical with black and white check floors, off-white cupboards with glass in two of the upper units, bead board wainscoting, tin tile back splash and a farm sink. The two doors under the sink are cut away in the mode of many 1930s kitchens...showing off the "new" indoor plumbing! Love it!
  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago
    I usually lean for more modern kitchens. If I must choose between the two examples pictured, I would go for the traditional kitchen.
    Maybe I need to recalibrate my definition of traditional? The word evokes flourish - raised panel doors, crown molding, carved island posts, ornate backsplash designs over the range... The top kitchen reads almost transitional to me - spare, clean, with traditional touches like the faucet, hardware, and apron front sink.

    (... Thankfully, I have plenty of time to study kitchen designs on Houzz before I determine what approach to take for my not-MCM-1965 ranch. I will be needed help, oh yes.)

    ETA: The traditional kitchen does look more "traditional" after all in the full-size version of the picture.
  • 11 years ago
    After living with traditional for most of my 55 years, I'm ready to enter the modern world!
  • PRO
    11 years ago
    I voted traditional, because it didn't let me to vote for both; but, I really like both styles, and the mixed of the two on my designs. You can create a Traditional with a Modern twist, and a Modern with the warmth and coziness of the traditional.
  • 11 years ago
    Depends on the house, the house we almost bought I would have done modern, this house the one we actually bought is 113 years old and has many original details, including a kitchen that is probably 100 years old. Modern would not work in it unless we gutted everything.
  • 11 years ago
    For me, traditional feels like home. Modern is more like a restaurant.
  • 11 years ago
    Love the modern one in this picture because it incorporates the earthy/natural look as well.
  • 11 years ago
    I started traditional because I thought it's what I was supposed to like ... but my true love is modern and I'm headed that way and slowly changing everything possible as much as I can.
  • 11 years ago
    Traditional is more relaxing and timeless.
  • 10 years ago


    Both the kitchens pictured here are
    quite lovely. The Modern one is perfect as is but nevertheless, I think I would
    still tend more to the adoption of the Traditional one after a few minor
    changes.


    Generally speaking, though, I do
    tend to prefer traditional kitchens. Not over-the-top ones that look like the
    designers did not know what else to pack into the one space like the example
    shown by @feeny above. That one left me gobsmacked – never saw the like!


    Traditional kitchens that are warm
    and charming and look like the family gathering/nurturing space are what I
    like. The kind where you look at them and you can already smell the bread and
    cookies baking; or you feel a comforting hot chocolate or cup of tea in a
    lovely bone china mug is just waiting
    for you to sip and warm you hands on while you snuggle in a corner and gab with
    the cook….that’s the kind of space I'd like for my home.



  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Some of the modern trendy kitchens look like industrial diners/ company cafeterias. They come across as sterile. They sort of make great pictures or brochures, but not in my house.


    I know its an old thread.


    I do not want an upscale Burger King or Wendy’s in my house.

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